By Ram Anand
Residents of the former Bukit Jalil Estate are crying foul over a Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) notice of eviction, demanding that the residents vacate their homes by August 3.
The residents previously received a letter dated June 8 from DBKL, stating that the demolition works will be postponed until the end of discussions between ministers from the Federal Territories and Urban Well Being and Human Resources Ministry.
Despite the outcome of the meeting between the ministers pending, the residents has been issued with the final eviction notice – ordering them to leave.
Bukit Jalil Estate residents made of predominantly Indians with lower income. They have been fighting the battle to get a proper house.
Main grouse of the residents are the proposed compensation package offered by the Human Resource Ministry and also the DBKL’s plans to move the Bukit Jalil Tamil school to a land gazetted for an Islamic school.
Meanwhile, the residents have been asked to move to the Projek Perumahan Rakyat Kampung Muhibah flats in Puchong, located right across the road to the former estate.
Once the residents move, they would have to pay rental on the flats, which will add to their already increasing financial burden.
To compound their difficulties, the compensation package for each family is only RM 6000.
26 families who were ex-workers of the former estate or descendants of workers were offered ex-gratia compensation, which action committee member Balakrishnan claimed amounted to around RM 11,000, but still fell way short of the residents’ demands of RM 50,000.
Most of them have been living in the estate for over 70 years.
The residents also fear that DBKL’s action of moving the local Tamil school to a land gazetted for Sekolah Agama Seri Keladi would result in their children having to study in an Islamic school.
The local temple will also be moved away to make way for a new LRT station.
A social activist Chin Choong Men, 62 who has been following the Bukit Jalil estate saga, further adds to the blurriness of the issue when he claims that after checking with the Jabatan Keretapi Malaysia, the piece of land on which the new LRT station is to be built, is apparently ‘owner-less’.
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